Not applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of dental floss constructions in general and in particular to a dental floss construction specifically designed for use with the posts employed on dental implants.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,896,824; 4,142,538; 4,265,258; and, 5,063,948, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse dental floss constructions.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical dental floss construction that is specifically designed to clean the posts that support dental implants.
As most dental implant wearers are all too well aware, a crucial part of the their dental hygiene regimen involves removing trapped food particles and plaque that are deposited on and build up around the metal posts that support the dental implant.
Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned prior art constructions are particularly well suited to address this pressing problem which faces a growing number of dental implant wearers each day.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need among people having dental implants for a new and improved dental floss construction that is specifically designed to address the problem of removing food particles and plaque from the periphery of dental implant support posts; and, the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.
Briefly stated, the dental floss construction that forms the basis of the present invention comprises a pair of deformable end units and an intermediate flossing unit operatively connected between the deformable end units.
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification, the deformable end units each include a very thin malleable strand of wire, encapsulated in a thin layer of flexible plastic, wherein, the outboard ends of the end units are tapered and the inboard ends of the end units are flared to form an attaching surface for the opposite ends of the intermediate flossing unit.
In addition, the intermediate flossing unit comprises a length of flexible flossing material such as plastic yarn having a relatively high co-efficient of friction external periphery that acts like a plastic scouring pad to remove food and plaque particles from the periphery of the steel posts that support the dental implants in the area between the wearer""s gum line and the bottom of the implants.
The malleable wire allows either end of the floss construction to be temporarily deformed into a narrow V-shaped hook that passes beneath the implant and is then withdrawn to capture the implant support post with the free end projecting outwardly from the user""s mouth where it can be grasped to position the length of flexible flossing material in a substantially surrounding relationship with the periphery of the metal support post so that the reciprocal movement of the end units causes the intermediate flossing unit to scrub clean the periphery of the support post in a well recognized fashion.